MBNA America Absolute, Ripoff blatant dishonesty all to make a dollar (well, several thousand of them) Wilmington Delaware
MBNA America strikes again! I was floored in reading what hundreds of others said before me. I truly wish I had discovered this information two years ago. In January of 2002 my wife and I received from MBNA a solicitation from them about an unsecured loan. We explored the idea, and gave them a call. The solicitation from them stated an unsecured line of credit with an APR of under 10%.
After going through the process the representative came back on the phone and told us we were approved, but at 19+%. We immediately declined the offer. Before letting us go he then proceeded to tell us that there would not be a problem with lowering this interest rate provided we paid on time. I have several years experience in the banking industry and am VERY familiar with how "the system" works. I specifically asked the snake if lowering the rate would be determined from our payments to MBNA or overall credit scoring? He assured us it would be based on how we pay them.
A year later, and absolutely perfect payment history to MBNA and all our creditors, we contacted MBNA to see about lowering the rate. Even before really looking they declined us. They said we do not meet the criteria. Although frustrated, we figured we would wait another year. December of 2004 we contacted them again. Again, we have a perfect payment history on this account and all others. Although our credit scores may be a little high- we pay all our bills and pay them on time.
Again MBNA said no with very little investigation. I have since sent letters to Bruce Hammonds, the President and CEO, and have only received calls back from disciples of David Spade's Cap 1 character, "just say no." At this point the frustration is boiling and we are strongly considering legal action.
Stefan
Kansas City, Kansas
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Former Employee
Somewhere,Maine,
U.S.A.
A mind numbing, blood sucking organization that no human should ever have to work for!!
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, February 18, 2005
Stefan,
As a former employee of what I consider to be the worst company to work for. A mind numbing, blood sucking organization that no human should ever have to work for!!
That said, I must tell you you were duped and in a big way. What is unfortunate about this is that you were duped by an unscrupulous telemarketing representative who was probably trying to earn his sales quota. Had this individual been heard purposefully deceiving you, he would have been fired or at the very least written up and put on probation.
MBNA does NOT base lowering or raising interest rates on your payment pattern with MBNA alone. If indeed they are willing to lower your rate (rare without taking some kind of 'adverse' action such as closing your account in the process) it is based on your debt to income ratio, balance to credit line ratio, types of loans you have, payment history, profession, potential future income and a variety of other criteria on you MBNA and all other accounts on your credit bureau report. You know the drill as you stated in your letter.
My advice to you based on inside information is to send a letter, return receipt so you know they received it to what MBNA calls it's Customer Advocates Office. When I worked there the address was on Christie street in Delaware, but they may have changed it. In that letter state you are considering legal action. At MBNA these letters are referred to as 'Customer Failures' in other words....MBNA failed to provide Customer Service. Every person you have dealt with for the duration of your problem will have your actual letter (a photocopy) placed in their personnell file! Additionally, this letter will effect there potential for raises at review time etc. This letter will also in all liklihood guarantee a satisfactory resolution of your problem. When I worked there anything customers wanted and wrote into complain to this office got done.
Incidentally all the representatives you spoke to are trained to say "no" to these types of requests and only those customers willing to push the issue get what they want.
A few tips with your letter, be polite and if you hand write it instead of using a computer it will get faster resolution because it shows you are that serious. Anyone can fire off an angry letter full of insults on a computer in five minutes. It takes serious thought and frustration to take the time to write a letter by hand and choose your words carefully - at least according to the high ranking MBNA officials!